This invention relates to a system for mounting hooks on display boards and the like and to components of such system.
The prior art teaches vertically positionable boards having horizontal grooves or channels interengageable with hooks that are insertable in the grooves only from the ends of the grooves. This is often inconvenient.
The prior art also teaches systems with vertically positionable boards with horizontal channels for interengagement with hooks at any desired longitudinal channel location. Such systems are subject to the disadvantage that the hooks are often undesirably dislodged from the board by accidental but unavoidable upward force applied to the hooks, which of necessity protrude a substantial horizontal distance from the board.
Dauman U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,443, issued July 24, 1984, discloses a typical prior art hook 20 that is subject to such accidental dislodgement. The Dauman patent also discloses a modified hook 21 that is equally subject to such dislodgement.
Kunce U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,961, issued Jan. 5, 1982, discloses a special horizontal rail having a base and different upper and lower flanges overlapping the base. A special hook member is provided with a base member, a collar welded to the base member and a rod one end of which is anchored to the collar. The base member is interengageable with the rail at any horizontal location with the rod protruding from the base member, but upward force accidentally applied to the rod may dislodge the hook member from the rail. Furthermore, the rail is subject to inadvertent inverted installation.
Other prior art U.S. patents which may be of interest herein are the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 1,188,227, issued June 20, 1916 to Woods et al.; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 1,807,356, issued May 26, 1931 to Vance; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,235,218, issued Feb. 15, 1966 to Graham; and PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,297,961, issued Jan. 10, 1967 to Patterson.
To summarize the prior art, display board systems are known having boards with channels and hooks interengageable with the channels but which must be placed in such interengagement only inconveniently by insertion into the channels from the ends thereof. Systems are also known having boards with channels and hooks which can be placed in interengagement with the channels at any desired horizontal channel location but in such systems the hooks are subject to dislodgement by accidental upward force applied to the hooks.
The present invention has the advantage of providing a system having a board member with horizontal channels of special configuration and hooks of special configuration, such that the hooks can be placed in interengagement with the channels at any desired horizontal location but the hooks are not subject to dislodgement from the channels by upwardly directed force accidentally applied to the hooks.
Important objects of the invention are to provide a system and components thereof having the advantages mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
Another important object is to provide such a system that is of simple, inexpensive construction.
Further objects and advantages will appear hereinafter.